Doctor Strangelove

Chapter Three

Stephen handed the phone over to Rachael. "Hello? Yes, I'm the one who's paying your bill. My name is Rachael Barrow. Yes, I'm the famous Broadway actress. Oh, thank you! No, no, I will not let you pay me back. No, I insist. You're welcome. Of course. Okay. I'm going to hand you back to Stephen now so you can hash out the details. Bye." Rachael gave the phone back to Stephen and listened while he and his patient fixed the details. When Stephen hung up, he went over to the piano bench. 

"Are we gonna rehearse now or what?" he asked. Rachael put her hands on her hips.

"Why are you being such a jerk lately?" she asked. 

"What do you mean?" Stephen asked.

"You don't care about anything besides money," Rachael said. 

"I care about you, don't I?" Stephen tilted his head.

"Yes, you do, but that's not the point. You won't even let your patients thank you anymore," Rachael said. "All you care about is the bill." 

"People change, Rachael," Stephen shrugged. "Now, do you want to rehearse your song or not?"

"Fine," Rachael sighed. "Here's the piano music."

Rachael did what she had to, but her heart really just wasn't in it. Once she finished, she threw herself onto the couch and turned on the television. Stephen sat down next to her. She glared at him and scooted to the far end. 

"Rachael, come on," he sighed. "What's gotten into you?"

"You know what," Rachael said.

"Like I said, people change," Stephen said.

"But not always for the better," Rachael said. "Please just be careful, okay? One day this is going to come back and bite you." 

"I'll be fine," Stephen assured. 

"Whatever you say," Rachael sighed. "You're starting to remind me of Scrooge from A Christmas Carol."

Stephen rolled his eyes. "I'm nothing like him." 

"You really are," Rachael said.

"Am not!" Stephen said, outraged.

"Are too!" Rachael said.

"Am not!"

"Are too!" 

"Am not!" 

"Are too!"

The argument ended with Rachael and Stephen screaming "Am not!" and "Are too!" while hitting each other with throw pillows from the couch. By the time they'd both finally surrendered, they were both laughing so hard they were crying. Stephen was the first to recover enough to climb back up on the couch. Rachael lay on the floor for a few more minutes, giggling uncontrollably. 

"Come on, there's enough room for two," Stephen said, patting the couch.

"Okay...Scrooge," Rachael said, still giggling. 

Needless to say, Rachael got a pillow to the face for that comment. 

"Should we watch something?" she asked as she plopped back down on the couch.

"Whatever you want," Stephen shrugged. 

"Let's watch Annie for the twenty-millionth time," Rachael said. 

"How about Mary Poppins instead because you're actually in that right now?" Stephen asked.

"I'm so sick of Mary Poppins I could puke," Rachael sighed.